Palo Alto Rotary Pinion Weekly Newsletter Date: August 15, 2011 Reporter: BILL BUSSE Editor: LYLE CONNELL THIS COULD BE OUR YEAR! ANNOUNCEMENTS Social Chairperson KAREN KIENZLE reminded us of the And last year wasn’t too shabby. Stanford Football Rotary Family Picnic at Foothills Park this coming Saturday. impresario Ron Lynn waxed poetic about the Cardinal Team, However, today was the final day for KAREN to give the with Quarterback Andrew Luck getting a big chunk of his University Rotary Club our list of attendees. If you are not on accolades. All of you fans…or would-be fans…are advised to her list, give yourself a heads-up for next year about this same get your tickets and plan to watch some exciting football on time. The Farm this year! Pardon me if I sound a bit excited, but this will be a great year to renew your interest in Stanford athletics. JULIE JEROME passed around the Opening Remarks (It is rumored that we will have a Club tailgate on one of these sign-up sheet. There may be a few openings left for this football Saturdays.) calendar year, so contact JULIE if you are willing, and probably able, to join in this Club Service activity. It’s an Ron pointed out that one of the reasons Andrew came to opportunity to amaze your fellow Rotarians with words of The Farm was to study the noble profession of architecture, inspiration…or possibly humoration (Another word borrowed and that his Advisor is one of our members, JOHN from HAL). BARTON…which is an obtuse segue into our Opening Remarker, also named JOHN BARTON. YORIKO KISHIMOTO, who drove ISRAEL ZEHAVI to today’s meeting, gave us the good news that since he has been However, I almost forgot to list Guests and Visiting on an experimental drug, ISRAEL has regained his ability to Rotarians, so here goes. walk. Way to go medical science and Israel! DERRICK BRITT did the honors to witt: Visiting Rotarians …Mary Qian (San Mateo Sunrise Club) President SHERRI reminded us of the longstanding Steve Liston (Madrid-Serrano Club. Steve who is a diplomat tradition of having new members sit at each of the tables. For was introduced by father, LAURIE LISTON) Philip Boudart those of us who have been lax-ifying (Yes, another Michelson- (Milbrae Club) ism), the drill is that a red napkin indicates where a new Guests of Rotarians …June Gilliam (Mary Qian) Paul member is welcome to sit. Whether you are new or ancient, Wineman (WALT HAYS) Sue Moniz (GINNY LEAR) Ron take this opportunity to get better acquainted with your fellow Lynn (STEVE PLAYER) David Liston (LAURIE LISTON) and fellow-ess Rotarians. JOHN shared his thoughts on Sergeant Shriver who, while WORLD COMMUNITY SERVICE IS THE NAME OF in public service, initiated the THE GAME! Peace Corps and the Head Start Our past president and District 5170’s wizard of fundraising for Program. John noted that Mr. international service projects, WALT HAYS, gave us a primer Shriver’s commitment to on the process. First, you should know that for every 1 K we national service was very much contribute to the Rotary Foundation 3.5 K finds its way back to in line with the high values of fund our qualifying projects. Rotary. An inspiring opening to what turned out to be an Walt is also astute at talking some of the other Clubs in the inspiring program. District into contributing to our efforts. As many of you know, some of our projects include travel by members, and hands-on activities. We are currently working with Panamanian resident and past member, MARK HEYER, along with CYRILLE BETANT, on a literacy project. Future endeavors are the building of fuel-efficient stoves in Guatemala, continuing efforts to support Cindy Wilbur in helping upgrade facilities in the Yucatan, and a project helping to protect the apes in And speaking of inspiration we were “INSPIRATED” (A Cameroon. If you want to participate in this International word I picked up from our elocutionist and President Elect, Program, contact WALT. The next WCS meeting will be on HAL MICKELSON) by the services of DAVE THORNTON August 31 st . at the welcoming table…KRISTIN WU our astute money lady…STEVE MADSEN our setter upper par excellence, and yours truly at the keyboard. The above was duly noted by our highly organized President…President SHERRI SAGER. OUR PROGRAM Ron noted that the playbook is similar to that used by Jim Harbaugh, but IT’S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN…AND THIS that Coach Shaw is a different type of coach. TIME LUCK IS WITH US! The excitement level is reaching new heights! STEVE He also gave a rundown on the key offensive and defensive PLAYER, one of our SU football alums, introduced RON players and answered a few questions to conclude this excellent LYNN, Director of Player Personnel. Ron has been involved program…excellent even if you are not a football affectionado. with football from Junior High School to High School “THIS WILL BE A GOOD YEAR, SO COME ON OUT to College to Professional AND JOIN IN ON THE EXCITEMENT!” Ball to a return to the College scene. That’s a total of 55 years, which is longer than SAM has been growing mandarin oranges. UPCOMING PROGRAMS Ron estimates that he has August 22- New Member Talks , TBD spent 6 ½ years in training August 29 - James Fearon , Civil War in Developing camp dorms during his Countries career. “My time with Al September 5- Dark , Labor Day Observed Davis should be counted in dog years, however!” September 12- Joel Brinkley , Stanford Professor, International He noted that Stanford has had a storied quarterback Foreign Affairs program when you think back to Jim Plunkett and John Elway, not to mention Frankie Albert, who played when SAM planted his first pistachio trees. Ron’s comments about Andrew Luck and Stanford football went as follows: “Watching Andrew will enrich your life.” “He comes from a great family.” “What is his dark side? None that I have seen.” “He is a team player and an outstanding leader.” “When calling signals, he has three possible plays to call depending on the defensive alignment.” “When in doubt, he has a fourth option. This scheme gave the Virginia Tech defensive backs fits during the Orange Bowl.” “The good news is that Andrew has a great back-up team!” “There are about 2,000 potential college football players available each year; and Stanford has a pool of about 200 that are academically qualified.” “The current roster consists of players from 29 states, plus the District of Columbia.” “The players have bought into the rigorous conditioning program and having a nutritious diet.” “The nineteen freshmen recruits have been on campus this summer and are bigger, stronger, and faster because of the early training program.” “The freshmen gain a sense of community that serves them well.” .